Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve

The Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve is a public conservation area located in the municipality of Lac-Édouard, in the agglomeration of La Tuque, in the administrative region of Mauricie, in Quebec, Canada. Its raison d'être of the Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve is to ensure the protection of ombrotrophic peatlands in the Laurentians region, which is made up of a succession of ponds and strips. It is a representative bog of the boreal Laurentians.

This small reserve of is administered by the Government of Quebec.

History
The Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve was established in 1992.

According to wetland specialists, the term "strip bog" is commonly used in scientific parlance. This term identifies a type of ombrotrophic peatland whose moisture results from underground sources rather than runoff. Bog is a masculine name meaning 'quagmire, swamp, Scotland'. The Linguistic Atlas of Eastern Canada reports that the word bogue, feminine, identifies "swampy ground, low and inundated in spring". Thus, the toponym Bog-à-Lanières turns out to be a toponym of an ecological reserve which expresses the physiognomy of this peat bog.

Geography
The Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve is located in the canton of Trudel, south of the Club-Triton station, on the west bank of the Batiscan river and west of the Canadian National railway, in Upper -Batiscania. This reserve is approximately east of Lac Édouard and southeast of the village of Lac-Édouard.

The main body of water in the reserve is Lake Béatrice (altitude: ) which includes a marsh area (east side). The western limit of the reserve is a stream which flows into the northern part of Lake Béatrice and the Hirondelles stream which constitutes the effluent of Lake Béatrice. The eastern limit (northern part) ends at the route of the Canadian National railway; the southern part is bordered by a small lake. Access to the reserve is by a forest road which runs alongside the railway.

The general topography of the reserve area turns out to be a closed basin. The territory of the reserve is mainly supplied with water by atmospheric precipitation.

On the territory of this ecological reserve, organic matter accumulates there, forming ombrotrophic peatlands or peat bogs poor in mineral elements (called “bogs”). Four groups of plants are listed according to the supply of the substrate in mineral elements: black spruce forests, sphagnum, white birch and aspen.

The Department's website indicates that the strip bog occupies the central part of the bog and most of this ecological reserve. The strips, rich in sphagnum moss, are colonized there by low black spruce trees. The shrub bog with andromeda, kalmia and rhynchospore occupies the edge of the large pond located in the northern part of the bog. The black spruce shrub bog girdles the strip bog is an open formation of shrub spruce in association with ericaceous trees. Finally, the arborescent black spruce bog forms a second outer vegetal belt with the striped and shrubby bogs. The parterre of this peat bog is mainly composed of sphagnum mosses (mainly robust sphagnum moss).

In short, the thong bog constitutes the privileged element of this peat bog because of its rarity, as much in the Laurentians as in the whole of Quebec.

Go
The village of Lac-Édouard is accessible by plane, road, train, snowmobile and all-terrain vehicles. From the village of Lac-Édouard, all you have to do is take rue Damasse (south-west) and cross the railway line, and drive for approximately passing near Lac Aval, until at the northern limit of the Ecological Reserve.

By train

 * Using Via Rail), take the train from Montreal to Lac-Édouard railway station. The train can in the Reserve stop upon request by a passenger. The village of Lac-Édouard is connected by a passenger rail service offered by Via Rail. This village has been on the railway line connecting Lac Saint-Jean and Montreal since 1885. The gare du Lac-Édouard was the turning point the arrival of passengers by train (including patients going to the sanatorium, visitors, workers, vacationers, forestry contractors), supplies (e.g. food, equipment) from outside the region and materials for families and industries.

By car

 * From Montreal (. Time: 4 hr 13 min. Take highway 40 (north shore) eastbound, to Trois-Rivières; take highway 55 (northbound) to Grand-Mère, which becomes route 155 and cross the Saint-Maurice river bridge; take road 155, bypass the village of La Tuque, until the Halte du Curé-Normandin; take Chemin du Lac-Édouard (eastbound) to the village of Lac-Édouard.
 * From Quebec (city) (. Time: 3 hr 42 min. Take highway 40 westbound to Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, then take route 159 through the villages of Saint-Prosper-de-Champlain, Saint-Stanislas, Saint-Séverin, Saint-Tite and Saint-Roch-de-Mékinac; take road 155, bypass the village of La Tuque, until the Halte du Curé-Normandin; take Chemin du Lac-Édouard (eastbound) to the village of Lac-Édouard.

Eat, drink and sleep
No restaurants, bars, cafés or lodging options in Bog-à-Lanières Ecological Reserve.